Tributes to war veteran and advocate for refugees
▶ Harry Leslie Smith, who has died aged 95, said conflict inspired his compassion
A 95-year-old veteran of the Second World War who devoted many of his later years to helping refugees has died in hospital, sparking an outpouring of messages of appreciation.
On his Twitter account, his son said: “At 3.39 this morning, my dad Harry Leslie Smith died. I am an orphan.”
Smith was admitted to hospital on November 20 after a fall while in Ontario, Canada.
Born in 1923, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1944 and saw active service in the final year of the conflict. More recently he became known for his activism and his campaign for refugees’ rights.
This year he raised more than $70,000 (Dh257,075) for a book project to travel to refugee areas around the world and document the plight of those fleeing conflict and poverty.
“Before my time dwindles down to a few precious moments, I want to travel to as many refugee hot spots as possible in Europe, North America and possibly Australia to document this preventable tragedy that may lead us to another war as gruesome as the one I helped fight against Hitler over 70 years ago,” Smith wrote on his crowdfunding page.
He also spent time volunteering with refugees at the ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, northern France. After the trip, in a video for the UNHCR he recalled how his memories of the refugees in the Second World War drove his activism for the displaced almost 80 years later.
“I can still see them. Absolutely pitiful, hungry, starving,” Smith said.
His son had been updating well-wishers through his account on Twitter, which prompted an outpouring of support from across the world.
He earlier received a message from Britain’s opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who tweeted: “Very sorry to hear this. Please pass on my best to Harry. We need him to get well soon as the National Health Service, and our movement, needs him.”
Smith was a staunch support of Mr Corbyn in recent years, even speaking at the Labour party conference in 2015.
Others tweeted using the hashtag #IstandwithHarry, a reference to his best-selling memoir, Harry’s Last Stand.